One of the biggest mysteries surrounding the IShowSpeed China streams is whether he would meet with Da Zhang Wei (大张伟, Wowkie Zhang), the Chinese singer-songwriter who penned the hit “Sunshine, Rainbow, White Pony” with a highly meme-able refrain “Nei nei neige” (内个, a filler word that lit. that) that sounds uncannily like the n-word. On 7 April, the purported last stop of Speed’s China trip, the much-speculated “collaboration to end all collaborations” took place in Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province in Central China.
On Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform, the topic “IShowSpeed Changsha” (#甲亢哥长沙#) reached number 4 on the Hot Search list with 50.22 million views. From admiring nature in the Yuelu Mountain to walking down the historical Taiping Street, all the way to experiencing the 80s-themed multi-storey restaurant space Super Wenheyou, IshowSpeed’s Changsha itinerary seems less internet-centric but closer to a bog-standard package tour of the city. Although moments of people trying to get their 15 minutes of fame still occurred, everything seemed less chaotic and much better planned.
The collaboration with Da Zhang Wei took place in the Hunan TV studio (or Mango TV as they’re known online), a channel popular for its variety shows. From Zhang and Speed’s first meeting to the pair’s performance of “Sunshine, Rainbow, White Pony”, every moment was captured on stream. Although the variety show has not yet aired, people who have seen the stream already pushed the topic “Mango cringe” to the top of the Hot Search list with 22.48 million views. The hashtag is mostly about the TV station’s tight grip on Speed’s itinerary and shameless plugs of itself, potentially ruining the historic moment between the originator and disseminator of the “neige” meme.
A lively banquet was hosted with customary meetings with local ethnic minorities (Miao people this time), like any foreign VIP, with Da Zhang Wei helping an ever so slightly out of element IShowSpeed with the timing of toasts. The Changsha tour, which happened after China Central Television (CCTV) aired an 8-minute special on Speed. Carrying on the Situationist theme with our exclusive opinion piece, it is a great recuperation of the grassroots meme hero’s “abstract” journey to the East.
Need to boost your China strategy? Dao Pro delivers bespoke insights on marketing, innovation, and digital trends, direct from Chinese sources. Find out more from our Dao Strategy Team here.
